If you wish to speak to any item on the agenda or during the public comment portion of the meeting, please fill out a speaker card. Each person addressing the board shall have three minutes to complete his or her comments on each agenda item for which he or she has filled out a card. The chair has the discretion to determine or alter the time limits on any agenda item. The Board of County Commissioners requests that speakers appearing under the public comment section of the agenda limit their comments or presentations to matters relating to county business that are within the board's control, authority, and jurisdiction. Welcome to the Tuesday, May 6th meeting for the Board of County Commissioners. We have a quorum. I'll call the meeting to order. We have an invocation tonight by Pastor Bill McKinnish, Frontenac Baptist Church. Did he make it tonight? He could be out there in the lobby. Okay. Kathy's going to take a quick look. All right, sir, you're a man of the cloth. You want to give us an invocation tonight? You came in wearing a collar. Okay, this one. Oh, yes. You, sir. That sounds good. Please. All right. Let's do it. All right. Great American. We appreciate the ring. Good evening. My name is Reverend Bailey Shiner. And I serve as the associate pastor at SunTrue UMC. And would you join me in prayer? Gracious God, we invite you to come and be here today. God, we invite you to be gentle. God, help us to be loving toward each other. Help us to love each other extraordinary ways. God, help us to work out what it means to be your people, to be children who are made in your image and your likeness, each and every one of us, regardless of our nation or creed, our gender, the church we go to. God, we know that you love us and that your love for us is unconditional. And God, so we invite you to come and just be present in this room today. May we evidence the fruits of your spirit. God, those are love and joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. God, may we exhibit these fruits and share them with each other. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Thank you, sir. Very much. Commissioner Delaney for the pledge. Okay. Commissioners, we have minutes to approve for the April 3rd, 2025 zoning meeting and the March 11th, 2025 regular meeting. Is there a motion for... Move to approve. We have a motion by Commissioner Delaney. We have a second by Commissioner Altman. Clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney. Yes. Vice Chair Goodson. Yes. Commissioner Atkinson. Yes. Commissioner Altman. Yes. Chairman Feltner. Yes. We'll show that pass as 5-0. Thank you very much, Commissioners, for that. This evening, we have some resolutions. First, though, we have a presentation for the winners of the 2025 Brevard County 4-H public speaking program. Everybody's here. Good evening. Good evening. I would like to thank Commissioner Altman for the opportunity to have our County 4-H public speaking competition winners present their speeches tonight. We are very excited to be here and to showcase the work that these two young ladies have put into their presentations. The public speaking program is sponsored by Florida Power and Light, and it introduces 4th, 5th, and 6th grade youth to the concept of public speaking to help build confidence and hone this vital skill that will be used throughout their lives. This year, we had over 100 participants in up to 12 schools. Tonight, you will hear from the winners of both our 4th and 5th grade competition and our 6th grade competition. They are both from Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary School. Go ahead. Hello. My name is Shelby Windsor, and the title of my speech is Blue is the Best. The ocean. The American flag. What do all these things have in common? The color blue. Blue is the most popular favorite color, and it's no surprise why. Blue, while associated with sadness, also represents calm and serenity. It's very unique in nature, too. It can represent a multitude of different things in many diverse designs. Blue is such a beautiful color, it's astonishing to think that it's not everyone's favorite. There's a big stereotype that blue is a sad color. There's even a genre of music called the blues. But this isn't the end of the story. Blue is a calming color, and it's known to settle the nervous system. Studies have shown that it also lowers your heart rate and blood pressure. It identifies creativity to an extent, so if you want to paint a masterpiece or compose a magnificent ballet, you might want to wear blue. People to relax and lower their stress levels. Other than physical benefits, blue is also affiliated with loyalty, trust, strength, and safety. One might emphasize the fact that all those emotions are positive, unlike sadness. Go outside and gaze at the flowers. You might be surprised to find hardly any blue. You'll see an abundance of yellow, pink, and red flora, but blue is especially rare to see outdoors. Other than the sky and ocean, of course. One of the most common flowers are roses, and, yet again, blue is rare to see. And it's not just on land. Blue corals are extraordinarily uncommon. In addition to plants, there are not many animals that are cerulean, and even less that are a pure blue, and not just a gray color. Even then, those elusive creatures are considered incredible by many standards. Symbolism is key when it comes to using blue. The American flag uses it to represent justice, diligence, and perseverance. Picasso himself used symbolism in his blue period to depict heartbreaking and melancholy scenes. The ancient Egyptians used blue to portray the gods, the heavens, and the Nile. In the Renaissance era, it represented celestial landscapes. Blue depicted purity and divine people in many cases throughout history. And because blue was such a rare pigment to find, it often symbolized royalty, hence the name of the popular shade, royal blue. As the sea is blue, when used in religious artwork, it often portrays the god or goddess of the ocean. While these are all examples of more well-known paintings with uncommon meanings, blue may very well represent exactly what you might think. And it's not a bad thing to be correlated with sadness. Sorrow, herping, and grief are some of the most powerful emotions a human being can have. And it's no coincidence why blue and being sad often go together. Police officers wear blue because it means authority, and authority and power aren't that different. Blue is beautiful, whether inside or outside, natural or synthetic. It makes you feel good about yourself and others. It can relax you on many levels, and it's important to artists to use symbolism. It's unique, and no one likes to be ordinary. Is blue your favorite color? Okay, all right, okay. For the record, I appreciate that. Okay, thank you. Ma'am, you're recognized. Hello, my name is Caitlin Buchanan, and the title of my speech is Cats Are Dern Take Over the World. Ladies and gentlemen, today I stand before you to reveal a theory so daring, so staunching, that it might just change the way you view your furry companions forever. I'm here to discuss a little non-secret, the undeniable truth that cats are, in fact, secretly planning to take over the world. Yes, I said it. Your precious little fur balls are probably just a whisker away from global domination. One of the most striking characteristics of a cat is their ability to charm us. Cats are masters of making us feel like we're in charge. But let's be honest, one meow and we're mush. It's like they have us wrapped around their little furry paws, performing tricks to keep us hooked. Oh, you think you're the boss? Look at me roll over and beg for a treat. Spoiler alert, we're just the servants in their feline kingdoms. Let's also look at their social lives, too. They're not just loners. They're creating secret societies as we speak. Picture this, a group of cats in a dark alley wearing tiny tuxedos and discussing their plans for world takeover. You take the human's attention and I'll snag the snack cabinet. They have an entire ranking system, too. If you think your cat ain't the boss, just wait till you see them push your dog off the couch. It's like a hostile takeover there, too. Finally, let's consider their incredible talent for napping. Cats are world champions of sleep. While we're running around like headless chickens, they're lounging like royalty. They spend 18 hours a day resting and plotting. While you humans are off at work, I'm here using my time wisely, planning the downfall of civilization. And with some beam to neppin' next. In conclusion, as we snuggle with our adorable little overlords, we must remain on our toes. They may seem all cute and cuddly, but beneath that furry exterior lays a mastermind with ambitions far beyond our understanding. So the next time you catch your cat staring at you, remember, you might just be looking at the future ruler of the universe, contemplating the first decree. From now on, humans shall only serve us cats, the finest of tunas. Well done. Well done. You set the bar high for tonight, and I have to follow that. So everyone bear with me. And I just want to point out how much 4-H, what a wonderful organization it is, in providing leaderships for the future. In moments like this, I'm optimistic about our future and our young people. Well said, sir. Thank you. Okay, I have a resolution. I have two resolutions tonight. The first is for Older Americans Month. And Dr. Potomsky, if, sir, if you want to come up, I'll read the resolution, we'll pass it, and then you'll be recognized to speak. You're welcome to bring your group with you, if you like, while I'm reading this. Up to you. Or they could, or not. Okay. That's okay. All right, we'll do it for the picture. All right, here we go. Whereas it is the desire of the Board of County Commissioners and the Brevard Commission on Aging to celebrate the enormous contributions of our older citizens in the strengthening and prosperity of Brevard County, and whereas Brevard County represents the 19th largest elder population in Florida, and approximately 26% of Brevard County's total population is 65 years of age and older, and whereas older citizens are a diverse and treasured link to our heritage, we join with citizens across the United States in the promotion of the National Administration on Aging's theme of Flip the Script on Aging, and whereas in keeping with the national theme, we recognize one senior place and Don Kramer, CEO, celebrating 20 years of services and resources provided to the residents of Brevard County, caring for seniors, navigating on their own, and by their example, continues to remain engaged and successful in the community, and whereas we also recognize health and wellness advocate and trained fitness instructor, Jeanette White, for her dedication to seniors over the last 40 years, teaching unique exercise classes that combine hand-eye coordination and rhythmic moves to music, and whereas we applaud their work to combat ageism and engage with fellow citizens throughout the county, cities and other non-profit organizations on behalf of seniors and their families, we know that connecting with others plays a vital role in the health and well-being of our community and our senior population. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County, Florida, does hereby proclaim May 2025 as Older Americans Month. Don ordered and opted in regular session this sixth day of May 2025. Commissioners, is there a motion for approval? Move to approve. Okay. I think Commissioner Atkinson made the motion. Commissioner Delaney second. The clerk will call the roll. Commissioner Delaney. Yes. Vice Chair Goodson. Yes. Commissioner Atkinson. Yes. Chairman, excuse me, Commissioner Altman. Yes. Chairman Feltner. Yes. We'll show that passes 5-0. Dr. Potomsky, you're recognized, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is John Potomsky and I currently serve as Chairman of the Bavard Commission on Aging. And I would like to thank the members of the Bavard Board of County Commissioners for this opportunity to acknowledge the month of May as Older Americans Month. This year, the theme for Older American Month, as you mentioned, is flipping the script on aging, which focuses on how society, the medical community, everyone perceives, discusses, and appreciates aging. I promise that this is not going to be long, but now as a senior myself, I write things down, not because I can't remember things, but rather flipping the switch because my brain is full of rich life experiences and knowledge that sometimes takes just a few minutes to get through them and get the point across. So that's why I have the paper here. That's the only reason. Well, as you said, Commissioner, Bavard County is currently 26% of our population and is 65 years of age or older. This year, the Bavard Commission on Aging has recognized two individuals for their innovative work with our senior citizens in Bavard. First is Don Kramer, the founder and CEO of One Senior Place, which is an award-winning resource center for seniors and their families. One Senior Place provides a unique centralist location where older adults and their caregivers can find information, free in-depth consultations, referrals, elder educational events, and direct access to senior-focused businesses all under one roof. This year, One Senior Place is celebrating its 20th year of service to Bavard's senior population. Among many of the past recognitions in the year 2008, Don Kramer was named Small Business Person of the Year in Florida in 2008 and was honored at a White House reception by President George W. Bush. This always reminds me of something that his father, George H. W. Bush, once said, I'm a conservative, but a compassionate conservative. And I pray that our county officials remember this during their deliberations on issues relating to the elders and their care. Now, our second honoree is being recognized for her efforts to help seniors is Jeanette White, who is the health and wellness advocate in Brevard County for Aging Matters. Jeanette was honored last year at the Sunflower House in West Melbourne when Aging Matters celebrated the National Senior Citizens Day. Jeanette teaches sit and get fit. She does classes every Wednesday and Friday at the Martin Anderson Senior Center in Rockledge. And Jeanette also says that the Sunflower Houses also offers many activities of daily living with seniors helping other seniors. So in closing, at this time, it's my pleasure to present both Don Kramer and Jeanette White to be recognized by the commission for their services in Brevard County and its senior citizens. Thank you. Please join the 4-H club to learn and get speaking lessons. Okay, and we have the frame resolution so we'll all take a picture together, okay? So hold on one second there. Okay, do I get to say something? Okay, yes, I would like to say something. Oh, resolution. Resolution. Anybody else coming up here with us? Let's do it. Come on. Come on, family. Team left. Come on. Team this far. Team this far. All right. That's all right. Thank you. Okay. All right. All right. All right. Good show, huh? All right. Okay. All right. Hang on, hang on. Hang on. Ken's in the back row. Turn it. Okay. Push it. All right. Ken, go there. All right. Thank you. All right. You could, as I'm making my way back up there real quick. Thank you. Great, great. Well done, sir. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Congratulations, young lady. Yes, yes, yes. Thank you. Jeanette might show us. We had a request to see one of your routines there, so. Okay. Well, now that you said that. Okay. All right. This is quite an honor to be able to have my family here with me. I asked them if I could bring a few of my family members. And so, as you can see, as a result of this class didn't exist, and it doesn't exist anywhere else in the world. I woke up, and I realized I, too, was a senior, and I was in Brevard County, which I originally grew up, and I am a 4-H-er, way back when, 4-H. But I grew up here in Brevard County, and I came back here to take care of my mother. And after losing her, I decided to stay in Brevard County, but I started a program that is hand-eye coordination to rhythmic music that does address the ADLs, the activities of daily living. It also helps cognition because it's rhythmic, and it allows you to sit and use the longevity muscles, your core, your quads. I do it at the Martin Anderson Senior Center every Wednesday and every Friday. I donate my time back to the community to do that. I also teach classes in Bridgewater, where I live, so I've got some of my Bridgewater people here. So that's what I do. I teach classes. And now that you've requested me to do some of what I do, I'm going to say, let's do it. I'm always ready. All right. Come on, come on, come on. Let me get some people up here. Let me get some shit. Hey, up front. Uh-oh. All right. Well done. I think we should just end with that. Okay, first, I want to say thanks for making me follow the 4-H girls. And then that, so... Good evening. On behalf of One Senior Place, including our amazing and dedicated team, our dozens of resident businesses, the many non-profits, veterans organizations, and community partners we support, and the tens of thousands of seniors who walk through our doors each year, I am honored to accept this recognition. When my old friend the late Joe Steckler stood in front of you a year ago, he reflected on his participation in a United Way study more than 30 years ago that identified and listed the challenges facing seniors in Brevard County. Now, I haven't seen that list, but I'm willing to bet that if that same research was done today, the results would look strikingly similar, just amplified. Same problems, but on steroids. Consider these points. 12,500 Americans are turning 65 every single day, a trend that's expected to continue for nearly 20 years. Think about that. Seniors make up only 17% of the U.S. population, yet account for nearly 40% of health care spending. Affordable senior housing remains in short supply, and the gap between the need and availability is only widening. I could go on and on, but my team warned me not to. But I will add one key point. Compounding these issues is the fact that we're all living longer than ever before. Now, greater longevity is certainly a gift, but it's also pushing personal, family, and government resources toward unsustainable levels. We often hear the phrase raising awareness around senior issues. And yes, awareness matters. But after 25 years in this space, I've come to believe that awareness is not really the primary barrier. The real challenge is complexity. Seniors and the people and organizations who care for them are forced to navigate a dizzying landscape. Government regulation, oversight, and funding, tax policy, entitlement programs, private insurance, a fragmented and overwhelming health care system, a patchwork of senior living options, senior housing options, difficulty finding expert, unbiased guidance, and an uncertain business climate that challenges the hundreds of thousands of mostly small businesses that deliver the majority of critical senior services. So, pick one. Which of these is most important? In a complex, pluralistic nation like ours with deeply entrenched vested interests and radically polarized political viewpoints, the answer must be all of the above. At One Senior Place, we're working every day to connect the dots for Brevard County seniors and families who come to us for help and for the quality service providers that call One Senior Place home. Our mission is to simplify the aging journey by offering a single destination where older adults and caregivers can find trusted information, free in-depth consultations, educational events, referrals, and direct access to senior-focused businesses and services all under one roof. We are proud to be part of the solution and we're deeply honored to receive this recognition. Thank you so much. Located in Century. In the area. Okay. All right. Very good. Okay. Commissioners, I have another resolution for... Move to approve. The resolution? Oh, we approve. Yeah, we approve that one. I know. It seemed like a while ago. It's okay. And it's hard to follow all these outstanding people here tonight. Okay. So I have a resolution for National Provider Appreciation Day and we have an early learning coalition, I think, here. Laura Gambino. The sticks? Yep. Yeah. The sticks are gonna try. That was awesome. Thank you. That's the most excitement we've had for a while. You do it every week. You're welcome. Love it. Love it. Right on. I'm not quite a senior yet and I have to tell you I'm not confident that I could keep up with you. I'm not gonna embarrass myself. All right. I have a resolution for National Child Care Provider Appreciation Day. Whereas National Provider Appreciation Day also known as National Child Care Provider Day is celebrated on Friday, May 9th, 2025 and whereas there are 8,000 children under the tutelage and care of these contracted providers representing 30% of the total number of children age 0 to 5 in Brevard County and child care providers offer the opportunity for parents who live in Brevard County to work, attend school or participate in a job training program while their children are in high quality nurturing environments and whereas the daily care support and education of these children by home-based public and private providers sets the baseline for a child's success in the future through quality, affordable and easily accessible educationally-based child care and whereas there are over 200 child care programs in Brevard County affiliated with the Early Learning Coalition of Brevard County ranging from small and large private businesses family child care homes faith-based programs and public school settings and whereas without these providers thousands of workplace positions in Brevard County would be unfilled by parents and caregivers quality child care providers affiliated with the Early Learning Coalition of Brevard County not only educate young minds but support a vibrant workforce and continued job and economic growth across Brevard County and whereas the Early Learning Coalition of Brevard County will be honoring over 200 contracted child care providers during Provider Appreciation Day and this resolution allows Brevard County to honor its child care educators commitment to facilitating high quality care and early learning to our youngest learners now therefore be it resolved that the Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County, Florida does hereby proclaim May 9th, 2025 as National Child Care Provider Appreciation Day done at order and adopted in regular session this 6th day of May 2025 with that Commissioners is there a motion to approve we have a motion to approve by Commissioner Delaney we have a second by Commissioner Altman Clerk will call the roll Commissioner Delaney yes Vice Chair Goodson yes Commissioner Atkinson yes Commissioner Altman yes Chairman Feltner yes we'll show that passes 5-0 congratulations thank you and you're recognized thank you thank you I just want to take a moment to acknowledge our group my father was a long time entertainer and he told me to never go on stage after an animal act or children so now I'm going after sticks and speech makers but we're going to do this thank you very much for the acknowledgement Commissioners County Manager County Attorney we very much appreciate the recognition tomorrow we will celebrate all of our providers at our offices in Melbourne our day tomorrow will be called reflect and recharge we are celebrating those teachers that are working with our earliest learners the 0-5 is supporting those families that need child care high quality high educational learning experiences so they can go to work mom and dads moms and dads can go to work they can go back to school and I have with us here we have a few members of our staff I have to acknowledge Kristen Weary and Harriet Paredes Harriet is the director of our provider services and works directly every day with our providers so I can't say enough about what our team and our staff do and representing from our board Alan Bergman is our board chair and Alan has served on our board I believe 11 years going on 12 years and serves our board diligently and with pride and I have to just recognize and this is my fun part this is the part I get two of our and don't say that I said this but I guess I'm recorded two of our finest child care providers in this county and they really are James Box and his wife Tiffany own six locations in Brevard County and they are working closely with teachers and early educators to provide our underserved communities as well as the broader scope in Palm Bay Melbourne and in Coco right James got it right almost 650 children in his care okay and Dee Dee Helbig is with First Kids at O'Galley Baptist Church on O'Galley Road and Dee I have to say I visit the VPK class at Dee's school quite a bit they love me because I'm a Disney princess at heart so when I walk in they think I'm coming in costume but Dee will graduate 25 VPK students on May 21st and Dee and I were talking back there when we saw the performances we said maybe we'll come back in June and bring that graduating VPK class to all of you so Dee Helbig and James thank you for your service and thank you for the community and that's all I have appreciated frame resolution and we'll take a picture okay yes all right thank you okay commissioners we're going to move on to consent I do have a couple cards on consent are there any items that anyone wants to take off of consent I don't necessarily need to take it off of consent but I would like to speak about F14 I could do that now or after everybody's the public speakers speak well let's okay I mean I think we should just take it off of consent and so we can talk about it so let's so let's do this we're going to pull F14 and let's let's first go to the cards because I think we have F9 and he's 15 so Sandra Sullivan Mr. Chairman for the clerk I believe he's pulling item F14 for discussion and he's going to take the speakers now sorry about that all right Sandra you got two here so you both of them good evening Sandra Sullivan so the first one is F3 the local gas tax and so the percentages are divvied up pretty much per the population and as you know we have a challenge with gas tax with all the electric vehicles that the gas tax is going down while prices are going up a lot and so it brings this is just a question so I did a records request this week for the amount of impact fees on Wickham Road south of Panita which of course is in the Melbourne city jurisdiction but it's a county road so when you do straight line like this and you take the population of each area that population that borders that road that money is going to Melbourne so it seems there's an inequitable part I don't know if this is a legislative change or how you whether there's another way to address that but it's just a comment the second item F-15 and this is a separate item so my time is a little flexible there go ahead okay thank you this is the interlocal agreement for the creation of a metropolitan planning organization and in a sense it kind of reminds me of the NBEDS Space Coast infrastructure agency that was created something similar although this one has to do with federal and state so I want to just say I want to read one part of this so to assist the development of transportation systems embracing various modes of transportation in a manner that will maximize the mobility of people and goods within and through the metropolitan planning area and minimize to the extent maximum extent possible for transportation related fuel consumption and air pollution and then we'll function as a multimodal and intermodal transportation system for metropolitan planning sounds a lot like I'd say agenda 2030 in 15 minutes cities and it kind of curious about from a fiscal standpoint so this is the FDOT budget last year the multimodal was 54% of the budget and this year 64% of a five year budget and this concerns me especially when I look at the projects and so I have a question about where the local percentage of the funding is coming from so when I get a breakdown of that from FDOT the projects include Brevard Space Florida processing and range facility improvements 18.75 million dollars that's from the state with a matching from the local and similarly Space Florida common use infrastructure capitals 27.75 million on on the next one Space Florida launch complex improvements and passenger cargo 18.75 million local and then another one Space Florida Horizon launch landing facilities 18.75 local matching state and there's other ones so the question I have we have a fiscal crisis with transportation we have 2.2 billion dollar deficit for capacity needs and for maintenance and you know obviously I just talked about the gas tax so it would be nice if this board would offer some clarification with the fiscal crisis this county has and you have a taxing authority and I talk about this all the time and I lament that they are not paying taxes even though Florida state statute grants them not to pay property taxes on the land but does not grant that same thing on the land improvements and so it comes back to some clarification on this are we spending local taxes to a independent special district for their infrastructure when they are not paying taxes and contributing to the tax base thank you thank you okay let's go to F14 then thank you okay from staff who's going to speak on this item sorry that's okay I don't necessarily need staff to speak if that's okay I just really wanted to bring recognition to it because it's this is a project that I feel like this we really need these type of projects in our county it contains 263 units all of which will be rented to seniors 62 and age 62 and above 40% of the apartments will be set aside for people who are making less than 60% of the median income and so I just really wanted to bring awareness to this project that's happening in Palm Bay and it's Sunset Palms Apartments and one of the concerns that I had prior to my briefing was I had been to a government meeting and I had heard another apartment complex like this reaching their 30 the end of their 30 years and the residents basically got a 30 day notice that their rent was going to go up dramatically and so I had inquired with our county attorney is there anything we could do to help the residents when they get to that end of term for this affordable housing to give them more time to figure out what their next steps are going to be and so I just wanted to thank our county attorney for looking into that and for going and pursuing my question on this and thank the apartment complex for being gracious enough to agree to giving a longer term notice when that 30 years is up so I feel like when there's good people out there doing good projects we should give them recognition too so that was all okay very good so that doesn't sound like we actually took it off consent okay so is that okay Morris or do we need vote on set okay so okay we're still on consent so commissioners is there a motion for consent okay I have a motion by commissioner Atkinson I have a second by commissioner Delaney clerk will call the roll commissioner Delaney yes vice chair Goodson yes commissioner Atkinson yes commissioner Altman yes chairman Feltner yes we'll show that passes 5-0 thank you commissioners we do have two cards on the G portion of the public comments Christina Fleming good evening commissioners I'm here to talk about something that's long overdue impact fees in Brevard County these fees which are designed to ensure that growth pays for growth have not been increased in over 25 years a quarter century in that time our community has grown costs have skyrocketed and yet the money collected to support our infrastructure has stayed exactly the same impact one-time investments we can and should use them for critical needs like new fire engines rescues ambulances and long overdue station upgrades these are not luxuries they are necessities that ensure our first responders have the tools they need to do their job safely and efficiently we have four engines that are having AC units right now one of those I spoke to you guys literally last year at the same exact time they're still having issues they have to use a robot and wire things in so that they can have air conditioning summer's coming right now we're losing dedicated public safety personnel at an alarming rate 31 so far this year we are in time with last year's we lost 35 from January to May we are now 31 this year January to May why it's because it's not just about salary it's about resources support and the basic ability to do the job without being stretched to a breaking point there's a growing perception that the money we do have is being mismanaged and even if that's not entirely true perception is reality it affects morale recruitment and most of all retention we work hard to attract people to live in Brevard but what good is it if the very people who protect down the road raising the impact fees isn't just reasonable it's responsible we had a study done in 1998 and in 2016 either we didn't need to raise them or we didn't listen to the firm that we used then it's about investing in the future of our community and showing our employees and our residents that we take our safety and our infrastructure seriously thank you very much for letting me speak talk about is the last meeting and so we had a room full of firefighters here that got up and left the room and I just want to say from the perspective of when you knew that the Rockledge hospital was going to close there's a moral line in the sand that at that point there was a moral obligation for you to get a contract signed with the firefighters because now we're putting people's lives at risk I'm hearing people have already died and if that's correct that's on this board because moving forward you guys in one more meeting are going off for the summer and there's not going to be a contract signed while you're gone and it's not going to be done until July meanwhile we have a fire department that is being destroyed and people's lives are going to be lost and this is an ethical issue and I do think that there is negligence on the part of the county for not taking action hence my strong words last meeting I'm profoundly disappointed if I thought I was disappointed in the last commission for not addressing things like the fire department you guys have been here for five months and we all like got back behind you guys to get this solved the second thing I want to talk about is while we have this fiscal crisis we have a commissioner chair Feldner who is on chair of the TDC and he's talking about giving away a piece of property that is very entrenched in controversy including an FDLE investigation back in 2000 it was acquired for 7.25 million dollars the appraisal that was done a year ago was for this piece here in red which is 53 acres now that's an interior piece not connected to a major road that is delinidated on that map however the comments made at the TDC was the intent that the access to giving these properties this property to the city of Melbourne would be the access would include this lot here which is a total of 68 acres and then has major access the appraisal was also done from public works and not solid waste and there's a number of other red flags associated with it bad optics when this county has a fiscal crisis and we're looking at a situation where land is very valuable too valuable to give away when you have a fiscal crisis and you can't pay your firefighters a living wage thank you john dacco good evening my daughters won't join but they're there lieutenant how you doing sir my name is john dacco i live at 1558 metal or drive let me see if i can find my speech here i'm here tonight to discuss a simple but serious issue our county firefighters have not received a raise since october 1 of 2024 the firefighters under me are forced to work mandatory overtime every 10 to 14 days last year alone there were over 24,000 hours of mandatory overtime because we had more than 100 unfilled positions in the department this year we're already on track to lose another 100 we can't keep up because we're not hiring qualified applicants to replace the experienced professionals that are leaving two weeks ago you stood here and you tried to instill fear in prices at Dunkin Donuts McDonald's or daycare centers that kind of fear mongering particular from one commissioner is unacceptable residents deserves facts not spin the letters you sent out have finally reached the public and they're asking questions I've spoken with my parents and neighbors and they're baffled they can't believe our fire department is understaffed and underfunded they can't believe we've already lost 100 firefighters and we're on track to lose 100 more many of them including fire department my father who served 20 years as a corpsman petty officer and is on a fixed income owns two homes in Brevard County his taxes would go up by $120 that's just $5 per house per month and he's okay with that because he understands what's at stake now I was hoping you could explain to the public why you refused to fund their fire department fully why are firefighters mothers and fathers forced to work an extra 24 hours every shift 10 to 14 days my daughters who was hoping to have stand here that are out there I would like for you to look them in the eye and explain it to them explain why their dad and their dad's co-workers have to miss school plays award ceremonies weekend cheerleading events and softball or baseball games explain why you have had yet you continue claiming there's no money to fund your own county fire department I always tell my daughters to do what's right when I'm at work and hit a tough spot I ask myself what's the right thing to do doing the right thing that's called leadership but refusing to fully fund your fire department because you're afraid of raising taxes that's not leadership that's avoidance we're at a crossroads so our roads can be repaired and maintained our fire department can be fully staffed and our beaches can be protected year round with lifeguards my wife is terrified that my standing up here tonight and speaking the truth might cost me my promotion off the district chief eligibility list but I told her that I hope she was wrong and that this was a sacrifice I was willing to make because doing what right matters most now is the time to lead now is the time to do what right we would be lucky to have you thank you all right commissioners that was the last of the g section of the comment cards we'll go on to h1 good evening commissioners item h1 is a public interest determination for proposed wetland impacts for an indoor rv and boat storage facility on aurora road in district 4 the impact that's proposed is a third of an acre and mitigation has been provided and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have questions for staff any questions for Amanda commissioner the item that you mentioned that the consultant would be here unfortunately they had a family emergency I think the owner may be in in the audience I guess my questions are more I was just hoping to share a little bit about like what how this builder is going kind of above and beyond what you had explained to me in my briefing and I didn't know if you'd be willing to share that I was hoping the consultant would but I'm sure you're able to do that double the amount of mitigation has been provided for this project so they have a state environmental resource permit and mitigation was provided in Indian River County for that impact we have a requirement that that mitigation be provided in county and the owner went ahead and got those mitigation credits in place as well thank you so much any other questions for Amanda is there a motion for H1 move to approve okay all right we have a motion by Commissioner Delaney we have a second by Commissioner Altman clerk will call the roll Commissioner Delaney yes Vice Chair Goodson yes Commissioner Atkinson yes Commissioner Alton yes Chairman Feltner yes and we'll show that passes 5-0 thank you commissioners we'll go on to item H2 Juanita you're recognized good evening commissioners item H2 is a public hearing to announce that we are accepting citizen participation input into as we start developing the 2025 2026 annual action plan to guide consultation and the public participation process federal regulation require that grantees develop and adopt the citizen participation plan which cites the policy and procedures for citizen participation our plan is attached to the agenda per the citizen participation plan HUD requires jurisdictions to hold two public hearings and one public meeting during the process citizens can provide input into the development of the annual action plan during this time during this meeting directly to housing and human services department and the May 20th community development block grant citizen advisory committee after the plan is developed it will be posted to our website and available in our office at the cities of Cocoa Melbourne Palm Bay and Titusville Public Libraries and the housing divisions for city of Titusville Cocoa Melbourne and Palm Bay after that period we will bring the draft to the board July 22nd commission meeting for a vote HUD requires recipients of home and CDBG funds to prepare the annual action plan using the goals and priorities established in the five-year consolidated plan there is no vote required for this public hearing okay other questions for Juanita commissioner Delaney I was wondering about the citizen participation and what we could do to grow the citizen involvement because I know that in 2024 with the six methods of outreach zero comments were received and in 2022 two comments were received one of them happens to be from my chief of staff and the other one happened to be from somebody who got the affordable housing stuff onto the county charter so not it's not the amount of citizen input that I would expect with this topic that people seem to be very conscious of and I was wondering if there are ways that we could reach out to them like the county our county social media accounts or actually sending out emails to the non-profits or the groups that are in this sphere to kind of get more targeted input is that something that we could that we could do yes commissioner and also this year typically we bring the plan to the affordable housing committee this year we are bringing it to our community development block grant which is in our strategy area in hopes that we will get more citizen input into the plan but we also can have it put on our social media and send it to our public agencies that would be great thank you commissioners other questions for Juanita no we don't need a vote on this item no sir you do not all right thank you very much for that information you're welcome commissioners we'll go to H3 I got two cards sir you just what's that three cards excuse me okay Mark why don't you introduce it for us and then we'll we'll go to the cards good evening commissioners this is a petition of vacate right away for Merritt Island it's located in Merritt Island north of Whaley Road south of Pine Island Road in district two it's a 30 by 20 foot wide public right away and from the county's perspective both public utilities as well as drainage there's no formal objections although as you mentioned I understand that there may be someone that has come tonight to raise an objection and I also believe that PDSK and I see Joe Mayer there talking for the for the group that is trying to develop okay Paul Rosenthal thank you Paul Rosenthal I'm here representing PDSK land who is the owner of the land on both sides of the property and the petitioner I just like we're mainly here to answer any questions we'd like to thank staff for working with us on this project and the county attorney's office on getting through some procedural issues on getting this before you also just to point out that the staff report shows that all of the utility providers have supported this application and the county staff has supported this application so if there's any questions that come up regarding this from any citizen comment we'd like to have the opportunity to respond thank you okay sir are there are there any questions from commissioners no okay and george typhier and edward satina you recognize sir hi thank you for giving us the opportunity to present our concerns this evening i'm the son-in-law of edward satina the property owner of an adjacent property on the southern side of this proposed subdivision and our concern is the access to his property when he purchased the property in january of 21 this property subject to this subdivision was still under the previous owner's ownership and it was his intent that he would try to purchase an additional piece of property to gain access whereas currently he's landlocked and he cannot gain access to the property it's on the north side of a drainage canal and on the south side of this property and on the western side of where whaley road would have continued north had this been the entry point to where this property would have been developed since they're vacating that and coming in from the north it makes it so where his property is therefore cut off there's a gated fence where the improved road ends right now and it's hard to determine if the county is even maintaining that last section of road leading to that gate that's approximately 75 feet or so not to the measurement that I've taken but our concern this evening is just to make sure that an objection is raised that if this road is vacated if this right-of-way is how is he to gain access to his property in attempts to assist my father-in-law about a year ago we reached out to the company PDSK that bought this property and asked if they would be interested in obtaining his land in order to find a way to gain some value in the investment that he tried to look into and develop and make a profit on it it was not of interest to them it didn't gain them any added value so they declined to buy it from him so now he's got to try to find a way to make this a saleable piece of property a developable piece of property in some format but if he can't even gain access to it then his hands are tied furthermore we learned on Thursday of last week that I believe it Thursday that there is a drainage right of way that although it's on the south side of this property that drainage line was put in underneath my father-in-law's property put in in the wrong place is what we were told which the county maintains an interest in that line and therefore he cannot build or put anything above that line so there's multiple issues related to this property that we're just looking for assistance with so we just want to be heard on that matter today okay commissioner goodson thank you do you want to hear from mr. rosenthal again to possibly answer that or what do you want to do here no I want to ask mark a question if it's okay there's a lot of discrepancies on this little spot right here the vacate order is here but this part of the road is not developed commissioner goodson and staff here a chance okay you heard his concerns can you can you comment on those I can so I was advised that they came in earlier this week with this potential concern however as I look at the survey Whalley Road ends before PDSK property and I was told that they purchased the property with it being landlocked so while I realize you don't have the benefit of this because this is late breaking Whalley Road ends there is a section which I can't necessarily see but it looks like maybe 70 feet or so and then there's the right of way that we're vacating this does not block their access at all the property that PDSK owns blocks it and so therefore it's a private matter that they need and actually getting out of this by a vacate does not impact this situation at all okay thank you chair okay sir I think Mr. Mayor you're the owner you have just questions only is that right commissioner Goodson do you need any other any other questions okay all right that's it for the cards discussion on the item so any discussion on the all right what you want do all right we have a commissioner Goodson is there a second we have a second by commissioner Atkinson clerk will call the roll commissioner Delaney yes vice chair Goodson yes commissioner Atkinson yes commissioner Altman yes chairman Feldman yes we'll show that passes 5-0 thank you commissioners all right we'll go on to item H4 and we have Amanda again a less pleasant item okay item H4 is a public hearing for the adoption of an extension moratorium the original ordinance was enacted in 2019 and this would be another one year extension that would take us actually through july of next year questions on the item are there any questions for Amanda commissioner Delaney I was just going to move for approval okay hold on we're ready to do it but we have a card Sandra Sullivan so I support the extension of the moratorium I would just like to add I was here in 2018 when this came before the county commission then and the one of the major reasons it came before the county commission at that time was because the ag owner became aware of PFAS levels and then the county did testing and it was a problem so it's great that the county has a moratorium and extending this I support this very much I would also it's my understanding that we have municipalities that are still putting the biosolids on the floodplain of the St. John's so I would encourage you know maybe reaching out to the cities and even extending this with interlocal agreements because we we don't want to contaminate another water body I would also suggest that we are putting MUC especially near Patrick's Space Force base which is the third highest contaminated base in the nation for PFAS and we're dredging that and it's right in the lagoon plan that this could be a liability issue for the county in the future they even discussed buying a borough pit to put it in we should not be putting that on the floodplain and that discussion hopefully at some point you guys will add that into this as well so those are two additional considerations for you in the future but thank you for what you're doing for this amount and not putting the PFAS contaminated biosolids on the floodplains of the St. John thank you okay I think we had a motion by Commissioner Delaney if I remember we have second by Commissioner Altman clerk will call the roll Commissioner Delaney yes Vice Chair Goodson oh yeah Commissioner Atkinson yes Commissioner Altman yes Chairman Feltner yes we'll show that pass to 5-0 thank you commissioners we're going to go on to I I one and Tom good evening commissioners this concerns the financing of the solid waste management department's capital improvement program we're requesting that the board of county commissioners adopt a resolution authorizing staff to seek a pooled commercial paper loan not to exceed 34 million dollars in principal authorize the chairman to execute the resolution and various closing documents with respect to the issuance of the loan and to authorize the county manager to approve all necessary and appropriate budget change requests that implement this request and allocate the money to the appropriate capital improvement program projects this 34 million will go towards completion of construction of phase one of the US 192 site development completion of the construction of the replacement for the Titusville transfer station expansion of the Mockingbird Way mulching facility and also initiation of construction of cell three of the class one south landfill at the central disposal facility and I'll answer any questions that you may have all right commissioners questions for Tom no questions for Tom we do have one card Sandra Sullivan Sandra Sullivan so I was watching under the vendor link the going out to bid and that was awarded in September for 30 33 33 million and change for the continued work at 192 dump and so I'm a little bit I have a question mark because this is 34 million we didn't see anything come forward I've been watching on the 33 million that was awarded we knew that we had increasing costs on the construction of this dump and yet you know as a member of public I tried to keep myself informed I don't see that level of transparency of saying okay this was supposed to be you know about 35 36 million dollars to build and then it went up to like 50 million and then I heard it went up to 77 million where are we at where are we at for the cost of building this and then just one other comment I just want to mention I find it kind of interesting that recently you know the reason we had to build out of 192 we had we're looking at Sarno and Sarno was going to extend the dump for 20 years and then they couldn't get the city of Melbourne to increase the height on the land that they wanted on the Sarno land that we bought and it's just I find it interesting that the piece that the additional piece we're going to buy the county the recycler piece recently got an increase in height to 80 feet it's just it's just interesting you know so on that aspect but some more transparency on you know the cost of things would be very good so the so the public has an idea what's going on we have as a consequence we are shipping trash for five years because we were almost out of space at Sarno when we started building it and it's on the taxpayers right now paying to ship this trash to dumps while this dump's being built thank you commissioners discussion on the item is there any discussion on the item okay is there a motion on the item we have a motion by commissioner altman we have a second by commissioner atkinson clerk will call the roll commissioner delaney yes vice chair goodson yes commissioner atkinson yes commissioner altman yes chairman feltner yes we'll show that passes five zero thank you commissioners okay we're going to go on to i2 and kathy good evening mr. chair and commissioners on february 25th 2025 the board authorized the advertisement of a request for proposal for an impact fee study for the county's impact fee programs the county received three proposals from the following firms binesh dta raftelis the selection and negotiating committee met on april 28th 2025 to discuss and rank the proposals received the committee unanimously ranked binesh as number one ranked firm it is requested that the board consider tonight to either proceed with the impact fee study for emergency medical slash fire rescue facilities impact fees at a cost of $37,982 or proceed with an impact fee study for all of the county's impact fee programs which would cost an additional $181,988 for a total of $219,970 approval for the selection approval for the selection negotiating committee's recommendation of the number one ranked firm binesh authorize the selection and negotiating committee to negotiate the professional service contract with the number one ranked firm authorize the county manager to execute the contract and approve all budget change requests to commence the impact fee study commissioners questions for kathy are there questions for kathy all right we do have a card let's go to the card and then we'll do a discussion sandra so i want to go to the reason that brevard county is in a fiscal crisis to use the words of this commission from the last meeting and it's the cost of growth so i want to give you some i just want to remind you of some numbers on why this is so important and so the cost of fire and ems right now for impact fees is 97 dollars in 1998 when we did the referendum brevard's study recommended at least 305 to be comparable to surrounding counties in 2016 the study recommended 322 dollars and 49 cents for fire and ems we're still at 97 dollars the perspective of the cost of growth in fiscal year 2022 it was 620 thousand dollars was the capital cost of expenditures for fire and ems in 2025 budget last year you were saying about 30 million in january you were saying 48 million and most recently at the magistrates meeting 68 million who knows what's going to be next year sewage plants we have another plant that's that is up in the 90s 90% utilization i don't know how you're going to pay for all of this unless you start essentially growing a set of balls you need a county a comprehensive study now with fire this study if you do the comprehensive one that is going to be nine to twelve months it means you're not going to have it for this fiscal year 2026 for budgeting my recommendation to you is as a as a consultant is to break it up into milestones and each one you prioritize in the order of priority for them to do it so fire and ems is at the top of the list you have that one they complete that one first and get that one done and you have staff get them the information that they need so this is done in time for budget season for this for this coming year 2026 because if you don't have that information gosh knows where we're going to be next year and we all know where this is going right now because district three came to a meeting earlier last week and she was doing the sales pitch I'm getting rid of the three percent tax cap as far as I heard it and we know how that's going you can't put this burden all on the people because this is the cost of growth you're going to price for art so it's not affordable thank you just a friendly reminder if you'll put your phones on silent that'll that'll help us out quite a lot okay that's it for the card commissioner I think you had a slide is that yeah sure yeah Logan if you wouldn't mind I just put this together because I'm I was really happy to see these numbers come back in that they were so much less than what originally we anticipated and so I just feel like you know and these numbers the ten million dollars that's based off of what Billy had brought to us last time with the 50 percent over the four-year period and so to me it just seems like such a no-brainer that we go forward with the comprehensive study and I'd have to agree fire is in such a crisis I would prefer we you know start with that and then do the others following but if I only have support to do all of them I'd rather just do that but I would love to see this go forward so that we could kind of share the love a little bit okay in discussion anyone else in discussion on the item are you reaching no okay I thought about this earlier and talked to staff and so just as a reminder voting for any of this all of this whatever the situation may be tonight that doesn't necessarily mean that the impact fees will just go up that's not what we're voting for we're voting on completing the study so which is you know the first part that you have to do before you can consider that I'm personally not opposed to looking at all of them and so commissioners is there a motion I'd like to make a motion to approve to proceed with an impact study fee for all of the impact fees also approve the selection and negotiation committee's recommendation of the number one ranked firm Banesh and to authorize the selection and negotiation committee to negotiate the professional service contract second all right we're clear on the motion by commissioner atkinson we have a second by commissioner delaney clerk will call the roll commissioner delaney yes vice chair goodson yes commissioner atkinson yes commissioner altman no chairman feltner yes we'll show that passes for one commissioners thank you we'll see what the we'll see what the result is when it comes we will go on to j1 mark you recognize sir thank you good evening again this is for a contract for sale and purchase from robert raymond elzer and brooke cameron elzer for 5041 frederick avenue it's in west melbourne as part of our advanced acquisition strategy for our future hollywood boulevard widening project in district three as properties become available staff has been looking for over 10 years to get these types of opportunities so that when we are ready for our widening project we have the land in place to widen the road the appraised value is the appraised value is $255,000 and that is what the owner is requesting in addition to the $900 appraisal cost which is consistent with prior board action questions for mark commissioner atkinson mark we have to acquire this property for this project to go forward correct ultimately we do either we buy it now at appraised value or down the road but via eminent domain which typically is three to four times the cost of what we would get at today's price thank you any other questions for mark no okay i don't have a card on this one any discussion just real quick that's okay that's okay no appreciate you uh appreciate you uh helping us along tonight all right you have a motion by commissioner delaney right okay is there a second second you have a second by commissioner atkinson clerk will call the roll commissioner delaney yes vice chair goodson yes commissioner atkinson yes commissioner altman yes chairman feltner yes we'll show that passes five zero right okay all right jay two commissioner delaney you want to introduce your item yes okay so uh chairman feltner had tasked us all with um findings a cultural item to uh give twenty thousand dollars to out of the cultural funds and so um i had met with the warbird museum um a few times and they're in the middle of building an event center which which is desperately needed in district one we have very few venues for this type of thing um and on top of that the uh the warbird museum unfortunately lost somebody uh very important and near and dear to their hearts uh this year who has also um contributed not only a lot of their time but money to this organization and um unfortunately with his passing uh that left them with a shortfall of funds and so um um this organization it uh not only is it a great place you know to these people volunteer their time to restore history and um and they do a lot of great things there um but i just really felt that this was uh appropriate to allocate my entire um uh amount to this to this organization thank you okay and so i just really appreciate uh the opportunity to do the opportunity to do that and um yeah i hope i can get this question questions on that question do you have a card okay okay uh i think in the last three or four years we've allocated over a million dollars to them is that correct is anybody out there can help us who's on who takes care of that kathy peter's shaking his head i'm commissioners i'm getting i'm getting a nod yes okay okay so tell me in the last three or four years what have we allocated to the space of war boards or whatever yeah i will pause long in case peter wants to come up they've received money under the marketing support grant program for programs i can't tell the amount but we gave them a capital award too for their uh museum slash facilities and what was the capital amount that you gave sure i'm not sure if i have that in front of me uh not we're not sure we don't have that number in front of us well uh i think it was seven hundred forty thousand dollars and then there were some more given too seven seven hundred don't quote me on that but seven hundred thousand sounds about in the neighborhood that was a couple years ago yeah so with all that being said it's been over about a million dollars the last two or three years peters you have any idea i don't have the exact amount but that sounds that sounds correct it was over a million okay now commissioner you want to give them twenty thousand dollars you would not want to fund something else that hasn't got any money well um i haven't had anybody reach out to me that has uh asked so um this was a need that i that i saw this project um they're basically at the point right now that they are between um because of other things going on within their construction uh not possibly having air conditioning in their event center and so um you know that would not do very well for for events so well would it be a fair statement to say that if you know anything about construction twenty thousand dollars for a big building would not buy an air conditioner no i understand that sir okay i'm sorry what i understand that sir she understands that okay so twenty thousand dollars gonna help them get some fans right okay no thank you all right commissioner atkinson for a question peter can i ask you a question yes ma'am so um tdc money is for marketing is that correct not for completion of projects or can you explain that to me yeah i mean the msp program was meant to be for events and marketing of those events or reimbursement of expenses related but obviously the board can allocate funds as they as they wish and out of this bucket so right and so this this money um this is for programs that didn't meet the minimum guidelines originally right and the warbird museum does meet the minimum or has met they did they received right they did right the minimum yes okay if i i remember reaching out to you and specifically asking you about this um about this and you had told me that this would be fine so um i think what i said was the board could take any action that they desired related to this so as long as the board voted for it they they could do it yes thank you and i think if i understand the warbird museum does have a memorial day celebration coming up and i think they're actively trying to market to vendors and uh and the like to have a good event um later this month so if we're talking about events there's there's a pending event uh up there we have a card commissioners is that okay we go ahead to the card super sullivan good evening so uh just a couple things so um when i was watching the march meeting there was also a discussion of giving i don't know if the 20 000 as well to some of the cities like city of melbourne and uh so with some of their events and i'm a little concerned about what some of those events might be but um you can feel free to reach out to me about that um the other thing more importantly is what has happened legislatively so there's a bill that's been passed that's now gone to appropriations that would give flexibility to brevard county and other counties in in florida to use the tdc tax to reduce property taxes and to put up to 25 percent to think to public safety as given the fiscal crisis that the county is in this all this money needs to go back to the bucket and we need to wait for this bill to see if it gets signed into law by governor de sanos the the state legislation wants some action to address property taxes and and they recognize that it isn't just brevard struggling with public safety so you have an opportunity so right now today i would encourage that you don't do anything on this send the money back to tdc see if this law gets passed in because you have a fiscal crisis you need to be responsible you need to do the right thing because i don't know how you're going to crawl yourself out of this hole that you got yourself into by kicking the can down on impact fees for 25 years for a follow-up question commissioner i procedurally i just have a question so um in the summary it talks about what we voted on on april 22nd um my understanding is that that was for 2025 2026 i don't think that's what the intention of this this allocation is peter can you clarify that for us uh yes that's true on april 22nd what was voted on was the criteria for next year's grant program right so that would be the 2526 program so this this particular ask i believe is for this fiscal year if i'm not mistaken right yeah it was just in the spirit of that i just felt like it was um appropriate to bring this forward any other discussion on the item is there a motion on the item i'd like to move to approve okay and okay we have a motion by commissioner delaney we have a second by commissioner altman clerk will call the roll commissioner delaney yes vice chair goodson commissioner atkinson no commissioner altman yes chairman feltner yes and we'll show that passes three two thank you commissioners uh we do have some cards on public on the k portion of public comment fred douglas sir you stayed with us for the whole the whole meeting there good evening commissioners fred douglas 2612 inglewood drive i'm a member of truth revealed ministries in palm bay i'm also a member of bright bright is a coalition of 10 congregations of different racial and religious backgrounds across brevard county working together to address systemic problems in our county one of these problems that we're concerned about most concerned about is the lack of affordable housing at our recent nehemiah action having invited this entire commission to attend over 360 people gathered at sun tree united methodist to review the affordable housing crisis school children sleeping in the woods members working full-time jobs sleeping in their cars in the evening because they're priced out of the rental market over 30 000 brevard families whose housing costs exceed 50 of their income this includes veterans this includes seniors and this includes first responders brevard is investing in the tourism industry we think that makes sense we think it's a good idea as important as tourists are shouldn't it also be uh important for us to take care of our uh our local constituents who live and work here it is unacceptable that county leadership would support tourism at the expense of ignoring families and children sleeping in the woods ladies and gentlemen funding delayed is housing denied in 2021 we challenged this commission to create a housing trust fund that incentivizes developers to build more affordable housing in 2022 a charter amendment passed with over 60 percent voter support that created a workforce trust fund this was a critical step in the right direction but this commission has not funded that trust fund despite widespread community support 60 percent of bevard county voters expected this housing trust fund to be employed funding delayed is housing denied county commissioner delaney from district one put in writing that she would commit to find dedicated funding to put towards this affordable housing trust fund we're here today to applaud her leadership and invite others to join her because funding delay is housing denied she cannot do this alone we need other members of this commission to take leadership roles on addressing this crisis we're disappointed that we the faith community represented by those standing before you have sought meetings with each of you to discuss this issue and work on a path forward our requests seem to have been to have fallen upon deaf ears so today our request is simple commissioner feltner as the chair of this commission will you meet with bright clergy and leadership for the housing steering committee to discuss a path forward to funding the housing trust fund you can call my office sir and we had a meeting before in my office yes sir i absolutely remember yes just i can call your office yes yes sir thank you and so should we expect a meeting this month next month my my staff and i are very very timely sir uh so uh we'll check the calendar and we'll get it right for everybody i appreciate that okay thank you reverend bailey schreiner did i say that right okay and thank you for the invocation this evening i know you weren't prepared for that you're a good sport uh good evening my name is reverend bailey schreiner i serve as the associate pastor at sun tree united methodist church at sun tree our vision is to love god love each other and love our neighbors in extraordinary ways we live into this vision by providing food and housing for homeless families with family promise each year we raise more than 21 000 to provide every student at harper city elementary school with a 50 gift card to purchase school supplies that they may not otherwise be able to afford and recently we launched a new micro grant program to fund projects that will alleviate poverty in the 32922 zip code century umc is a founding member of bright which is a coalition of churches who have joined hands to advocate for issues of justice in brevard county for the past three years one of our key issues has been affordable housing as a pastor every week people come to the church and they beg me for help with housing issues last week it was a woman named june june has a four-year-old son who is autistic she was laid off from her full-time job as a registered nurse and her lights were turned off because she fell behind on the light bill and so we did what jesus would do we turned her lights back on but we can't afford to do that for everyone we invest thousands of volunteer hours and more than 100 000 a year to make improvements to our county with food and housing and so on but it's not enough we need your help so we urge you to make a real and sustained financial investment in the workforce in support of housing trust fund it was passed by the voters of brevard county three years ago and has not been adequately funded i have a whole line of non-profit partners that would love to take advantage of that one of the partners is an affordable housing complex in coco we had a meeting with our 922 crew which is a coalition of non-profit and school leaders in coco a couple months ago and the manager of this affordable housing complex told me that their wait list is more than eight years long right now because there is not enough affordable housing and you have the power to do something about that and we would love to work with you we'd love to work collaboratively with you but we need you to take our calls we have church property we'd love to talk about some creative solutions about how we can use that more we're already using in some ways we'd love to do that more but that requires communication and that requires us to to work together and so we can do better and we must do better and this is our prayer amen thank you it's your turn connor sorry sorry you're busy there connor mahoney 2475 malibur road i appreciate county commissioners you hearing me tonight i uh have been running a small newsletter for christians in the county for about a year now we have just over a thousand subscribers i also speak with local pastors on a podcast these are all conservative christian congregations in brevard county that i speak with some of them represented here today but many that are not i just wanted to read a couple quotes from some of those pastors that i've spoken with on these podcasts on this particular issue so at the end it's a short 30 minute podcast i uh ask every pastor i speak with if there's any issue in the county that they might think is underserved or neglected sometimes it's spiritual needs sometimes it's social needs about young families or hunger but four of those pastors have specifically mentioned this need of affordable housing one is father scott so see of holy name of jesus catholic community he says something that just recently opened up regarding the issue of affordable housing that they've opened there it was called saint stephen's way it's an affordable housing for families with school children to make sure that kids at school have some place to go to study and have a home that immediately filled up once it opened because there was such a great need so many school-aged children that are technically homeless another pastor pastor gary ginn of redeemer presbyterian in titusville he says we've got a lot of people who have good steady jobs and make a good steady wage and yet the housing both renting as well as trying to own is just almost unattainable i'm talking about people who've actually got professions nurses and many others educators who find it increasingly difficult i know up here in titusville we've got a lot of people who could really benefit from some more affordable housing to put it quite honestly another pastor in merritt island this is david rosenbaum of redeemer lutheran church he says affordable housing is clearly an issue here churches are regularly getting people who come and knock at the door and make a phone call can you help me with my rent can you help me with utilities housing and hunger i would say are two areas where a county is suffering and can use improvement again i've only spoken with 25 pastors this year it's a relatively small number i did find it interesting that we had four of them that mentioned this particular need is clearly a need in the county thank you very much thank you connor okay commissioners that was the last of the public cards we will move into board report morris thank you mr chairman i am advising the board that i desire the board's advice and direction concerning pending litigation and brevard county circuit court case number 05 2023 ca 015474 a case involving the construction of the mid-reach segment of the brevard county shore protection project with the board's authorization i would like to schedule an attorney client session for that purpose immediately following the board's regular meeting on tuesday may 20 i expect the closed session to be brief do you need a motion and a vote on that a motion of it would be nice but by consensus would be fine as well i make the motion all right second all right we have a motion by commissioner atkinson for the closed door meeting we have a second by commissioner delaney clerk will call the roll commissioner delaney yes vice chair goodson yes commissioner atkinson yes commissioner altman yes chairman feltner yes all right thank you for that um housekeeping item there uh commissioner delaney all right i don't have slides tonight but um i just wanted to fill everybody in on what i've been doing lately um i other than of course my constituent um meetings and and uh whatnot i had the pleasure of going to the ship um contractor meeting so thank you miss jackson for hosting that that was a great meeting for all the um the contractors that deal with the ship funding um they got to come learn about the program and uh you know ask questions and it was it was a really good thing and i was happy to hear that this is going to be um hopefully an annual thing where the contractors can come in and uh you know uh learn more about the program uh i also had the uh opportunity to go on a cte tour of our north high schools and um so thank you to school board member um megan wright for allowing me to come on that and uh it's just incredible what our schools are doing here and um the so many people ask about oh what happened to vocational schools there's no more trades well brevard county is the shining star of cte programs these kids they can graduate high school with certifications to go directly into the workforce and they're just doing an incredible job um so i wanted to give a shout out to them uh i also was able to go to the fpl symposium which um thank you to them because they had a whole bunch of speakers come and talk about the future of power and um and uh also uh congressman herodopoulos and uh senator moody they also came and gave us an update of what's going on federally so that was pretty cool to hear from them um and then uh i was also able to go to the artemis rollout um so that was pretty incredible to see the the artemis capsule and um that that that is going forward and uh it's just incredible what our people do out there at the space center um and then i also had a meeting with waste management uh i was getting a lot of calls about uh issues that were going on and so i called them in because i was like what's what's going on here and it ended up being a um a there was a broken line of communication and so we were able to figure out what that was and we got that all fixed so that's great um so thank you to them for being uh accessible and i also just wanted to mention um the speak up brevard program is going to be brought up uh at the next meeting on may 20th at 9 a.m and uh so the staff recommendations have been released um and they are up on the speak up brevard website for anybody who has put up um put on sorry anybody who has uh put in a seer uh recommendation and which is pretty cool because this time last year myself and my chief of staff was paying 35 dollars to look at some binders and uh so it's it's pretty funny to be on the other side of that um and i just really want to encourage the the people who submitted seers to to read that feedback that you got from the staff and to give your feedback to us to the commissioners from what you feel maybe something got misinterpreted or maybe you have some comments that you would like to share with us please do that before the may 20th meeting because that gives us time to um kind of go through that with you so that hopefully we can get some more yeses because unfortunately it seems like there's a lot of no's and um one of the things that i was really hoping for this year was to maybe try to work with the citizens more with their seer recommendations and try to find the yes in um in some of these things um like for instance one of the things is more records online and or all the records online i think is what the seer said and so what i would love to see is maybe we can't put all the records online but maybe we could put some or more more records online it doesn't always have to be an all or nothing um there was something on there about the consent agenda can we you know put put the totals of when how much money is being spent you know more uh visible so that the people don't have to go combing through everything there was one that our tax collector put in about how uh you know looking for efficiencies and whatnot uh in the county um departments and the the response to that was well we already do that at the workshops and it's for me i just felt like you know i i don't totally agree with that because it's um what she was asking for was to go more in depth about what are some things we could cut what are some efficiencies we could bring forward and so i just uh really wanted to put it out there to for the citizens to comb through this um the staff uh responses and send us your feedback on that so that we could advocate on on behalf of um you and your ideas and i think that's it very good commissioner goodson none commissioner atkinson um i just wanted to say that i was honored to be asked to attend uh the ceremony for the renaming of the um barrier island sanctuary to the dock earhart sanctuary and i also wanted to thank all the staff who showed up on saturday their day off um i really appreciated seeing everybody there also um thanks to again staff um wendy john and eddie and all of eddie's staff who went down to barefoot bay with me to hear some comments and to answer some questions i really appreciate all of your knowledge and your backup down there it won't be the last time we go i don't think and lastly i just wanted to say that i attended for those of you who don't know what promise is in brevard it's a pretty amazing place that supports our young adults with the disabilities i went to their fundraiser and this is a thank you to our whole community who financially supported them they had a runway of dreams fundraiser if you haven't heard about it haven't attended they do it every year and it was it was pretty amazing so that's a thank you to all brevard county residents that's all commissioner altman a quick report uh we had the value adjustment board meeting i want to thank the chairman for giving me the opportunity to serve i want to thank commissioner atkins for her willingness to serve our school board member matt susan was there as well as the governor the governor appointee or the citizens appointee robert springer it was very interesting process we we did have one contested property that we we voted on and we're in the process of possibly giving relief there but i'm hopeful that we can open that process process more to get more public involvement to let citizens know there is a process of coming before your commissioners and school board members and citizen advisors to to seek relief doesn't mean we'll always agree but that is something that the stat the florida legislature has given us the authority to do and it's something i personally take seriously and i just want to thank the members on that on that board for service because it is public service it's a tough process and so i respect everyone who's willing us to serve also i i got an invitation i'm sure the rest of the commission did but they're the commander general pansenhagen is uh having a breakfast uh with the uh at the tides restaurant tides facility at patrick space force base to give the state of the delta the delta launch 45 i encourage you to go that's really exciting what's happening with the space force that's going to be uh friday the friday the 16th 7 30 in the morning um i think our commissioner is going to play a very key role working with the space force and meeting the needs that our national war fighters have in space and so i wanted to let folks know that that's going on anything else sir you can call my office if you have any questions about it okay thank you thank you oh yeah okay i have a request to mention that the cattlemen's is a dinner yes dinner f burton smith park on the 16th also okay um all right frank thank you for the opportunity to save a few words uh commissioner i'm grateful for the for all the opportunities i've been afforded working for the board of county commissioners for the last 36 years when i started my tenure as county manager in 2017 i began with the belief that leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to seed in themselves early on in my career while i was in human resources we developed an employee development program coupled with our leadership executive leadership institute that's unequaled from any other similar type program of local government in florida that's a legacy that i'm leaving you that i'm particularly proud to have envisioned and put in place i've appreciated the opportunity over the last several years to appoint numerous outstanding people into leadership roles who are all graduates of these programs i'm also pleased to be retiring knowing the board will be the beneficiaries of these leaders they are an exceptional team of dedicated workers committed to providing outstanding public service i know you'll continue benefiting from their wisdom and experience and i encourage you to continue asking for and listening to their sage advice with the board's support we've continued to incrementally improve aging infrastructure and capital needs throughout the organization county staffs done a phenomenal job to keep these initiatives moving forward i hope the board will continue to support these important initiatives i understand it's difficult for county government to have a long-term plan and vision and stay the course continuing the long-term plan considering the political influences that are part of the reality and dynamics you face as commissioners i'm confident however that staff stands ready to build on these initiatives with appropriate board guidance and direction i know staff is eager to receive the board's input on how best to continue moving our organization forward to a better tomorrow for everyone i've benefited tremendously these last eight years from extraordinarily dedicated staff who have worked tirelessly to make our organization better today than it was yesterday these same people stand ready to make things better tomorrow than they are today with the board's support i'm confident that that will happen the staff i have had in the county manager's office is undoubtedly the best staff that has ever been in that office the county senior leadership team including the county attorney and all department directors deputy and assistant directors i've been privileged to have by my side have been exceptional to work with their unmatched work ethic loyalty and the way they have been respectful and responsive had made me particularly proud of them i couldn't have asked for find a group of people to have had the honor to lead they made my job so much easier than it would otherwise have been i'm grateful for all the confidence that they placed in me and the efforts they made to execute the vision we developed and focused on over these last eight years that have been outlined in every every one of our budget messages i look forward to seeing a continuation of positive progress being made this upcoming year and i'm glad that the current leadership team that is in place will be be here to help and support jim leisenfeld to further a vision that moves brevard county forward in a manner that's beneficial for everyone in our organization and community in closing i want to thank the board for having provided me the opportunity to serve and that's the end of my final report thank you well done sir we appreciate it very much um that's boy i've had to follow all the tough acts uh today and it's it's been difficult um frank i i appreciate you more than you're ever going to know um i want to say we were we saw some young people today and it reminded me um i had the privilege of going to west shore uh last week for the to judge the senior projects that's my my second time doing that and uh they give me real hope for the future so a lot of smart kids one of them was actually morris's daughter i'm not sure she enjoyed all of my questions uh but she was a good sport so all right but i didn't tell you that in advance no i've i've i've it became obvious i figured i figured it out uh she looks a lot like you morris so anyways all right uh everyone thank you very much we appreciate it have a good night the opinions expressed by any member of the public during any period of public comment